Kids are told it pays to eat your spinach, but that changed last fall when the nation was gripped with a wave of E. coli infections due to contaminated spinach.
A Murray woman on Friday reached a settlement with California spinach processor Natural Selection Foods after she said tainted spinach landed her 7-year-old son in the hospital last year.
Sheila Leafty and her attorney appeared in U.S. District court to accept a $42,750 settlement with Natural Selection. During a settlement hearing Friday, attorneys told a federal judge that parts of the settlement will go toward paying $3,133 in medical costs and about $11,000 in attorney fees, plus other costs, including lost wages. The remainder, $27,126 will be placed in a trust account that Leafty will oversee until her son reaches 18 and he can collect on it.
Federal officials announced a massive recall of fresh spinach last September after nearly 200 people across the nation reported getting sick. Officials traced the contamination to San Benito County, Calif. where an E. coli strain was possibly spread by cattle or wild pig feces.
Leafty has said she had fed her son, Brayden, store-bought spinach in late August, early September 2006. After becoming seriously ill, Brayden was rushed to the hospital and treated with intravenous hydration, pain medication and drugs for nausea.
Leafty's attorney, Todd Gardner, said his client could not talk about the case under terms reached in the settlement agreement.
A second Utahn still has a case pending against Natural Selection. A Utah County man says an E. coli infection brought on by spinach put his son in intensive care.
Jeffrey Merkey of Lindon says his 23-month-old son was fed bagged baby spinach and then two weeks later he was fed an in-flight meal containing "partially cooked" spinach while on a return flight from Germany. Merkey's suit also names Delta Air Lines as a defendant. That suit is scheduled for a pretrial conference next October.
Undisclosed settlements have been reached in other parts of the country for relatives of patients who died. Suits filed on behalf of three women in Nebraska, Washington and Maryland were all settled last April.
E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com